A Tale of Indian Heroes 49
extreme lightness of hand, until the Princes, astonished, saw the last blade come within reach of the old man's hand. Clasping this he drew up a rope or chain of blades, the point of each splitting the shaft of the next, till on the last one was the ball impaled.
Then the young Princes, mightily astounded at the old man's skill, asked to know his name ; but he said : " Repair to Bhishma, tell him what you have seen. That mighty one will recognise my skill."
Now when Bhishma heard of the wonderful thing that had been done, he clapped his hands and said, " Surely it is Drona, the king of archers, who long years since disappeared none knew whither/'
Then he sent for the old man, and sure enough it was Drona, and he consented to teach the young Princes all that could be taught in the use of all arms, on condition that when their education was complete, they should fight for him against the enemy who had held him captive for so long.
Thus, as it may be thought, he did his best to teach ; but in all learning there is something God-given, so Arjuna once more came to the front, for his heart was in it. For instance in the early morning one of the first duties of the pupils was to fetch water for their preceptor. Now for this purpose Drona gave the Princes narrow-necked pitchers so that time might be spent in filling them ; but to his own son he gave a wide-mouthed vessel. Thus the lad, profiting by this, had a longer lesson than the others ; but Arjuna noticing this took measures so that he and his preceptor's son came together with their water. Now Drona, perceiving this, became fearful lest Arjuna
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